A novel of obsession, betrayal, and love

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PRINT version

WHEN IS THE PRINT VERSION AVAILABLE? I PREFER PRINT.

*****READ the FOLLOWING only if you are equally happy, as a READER, with ebook or print, and just want to support the author best.*****

It is a natural impulse to support the author when you know her, and her first book comes out. And subsequent ones, I hope. But there is an underside to most things – ‘the ebook version’ and ‘the print version’ are not just equivalent versions of the exact same thing.

In traditional publishing, the royalty rates for hardcover, paperback, and ebook are different, and the publishers can manipulate the price of one to create a situation they control, and which gives them the most financial reward. THEM, not the authors. The system used to be: 1) out in hardcover, 2) about a year later, out in paperback. Thus the more lucrative hardcover (lucrative for the PUBLISHER) didn’t have its sales cannibalized by the mass-market paperback (MMPB) – and readers who really wanted the story had to pay big bucks.

My online friend asks:

Claire P.: I have difficulty reading but really want to read this. I am wondering if it will come in paperback because I have difficulty negotiating my technology. (And I want to pay full price.)

The answer:

Claire, it will be available in print-on-demand – as soon as I do the work to set it up. I have to produce a more complicated cover (basically the same, but with a back cover and a spine and some more data on it, like an ISBN).

I have to then figure out how to make any changes I choose to the layout (the ‘look’ of the book). In ebook, you keep things VERY clean, stick to ONE font, and do not interfere with the reader’s ability to choose font, font size, line spacing, and physical orientation (portrait or landscape).

I can get beautiful and fancy – something I could NOT do in the ebook, especially if I wanted people to be able to read it on any device they already had.

So, choices – and more learning time. It should not be TOO bad, but it is non-trivial. And then there is a cycle during which you set it up, order a proof copy, get the copy, cry, make changes. Repeat until it LOOKS GOOD to the author (fortunately, no publisher involved, so my opinion is the only one that counts).

Also, it will be fat and relatively expensive (I’m estimating 24.99 USD, and at least 600 pages). Which is why I started with the ebook.And the last bit: authors make less money usually on the print copy – not a real problem, because a sale is a sale – because real-world resources such as paper, ink, printing operators, and mailing come into play.

Best things about PRINT:

The best thing about print is having a ‘real book’ in your hands. And it usually make the ebook look really inexpensive by comparison right there on your author page.

And of course you can put it on your shelf!

I expect to sell fewer paper copies. What I really want is readers, preferably SATISFIED readers, readers who recommend my books because they like my stories.